What is the future of the Philipine tourism business?
March 30, 2003 | 12:00am
Despite many years of government neglect, why is Philippine tourism not hopeless? With the US war against Saddam Hussein, the unfinished global war on terrorism and the recent spate of bombings in southern Philippines, will the tourism industry be able to bring in much needed dollars? Can the zeal of Tourism Secretary Richard Gordon, his "Wow Philippines" campaign and his ongoing restoration of historic Intramuros help revive this battered industry?
On the 31st anniversary last March 12 of the country’s preeminent tourism company Rajah Group of Companies, Philippine STAR interviewed its matriarch Atty. Alejandra "Dading" Cruz Clemente, her four children and two top executives.
A dynamic leader of the travel industry, Dading is today president of the Federation of Tourism Industries of the Philippines (FTIP), but when she was growing up, her biggest dream was to be a justice of the Supreme Court. She and her late husband Jose Clemente founded Rajah Group, which today has five companies and 11 offices in the Philippines, Japan and the US.
Her children now oversee the day-to-day managerial responsibilities of Rajah Group: Rajah Tours general manager Jose "Jojo" Clemente III; San Francisco-based general manager of USA operations Alexander "Alex" Clemente; AVP for finance Mari-len Clemente; and AVP for marketing and Makati office general manager Aileen Clemente. Top executives who joined the interview were Alice San Juan, Rajah Travel Corp. EVP and two-term president of the Philippine Travel Agencies Association (PTAA), and Mercedes C. Cruz, Rajah Travel VP for finance.
Rajah Group has become a respected institution in Philippine tourism. In fact, one can compare it with a school that has produced important leaders. Jojo describes these travel entrepreneurs as "graduates of Rajah University." For instance, former Rajah tourist guide Benny Wong is today chairman of eight companies led by Morning Star Travel & Tours Inc.
Dading Clemente: Hopefully, the Philippine tourism industry will survive. I have faith in its future. Mabuti na lang no Japanese tourists died in the Davao bombing because Japan is one of our major tourist markets.
Mari-Len Clemente: Even the US Dow Jones stock market plunged due to the Davao bombing.
Alice San Juan: It is not only Philippine tourism that’s affected, even the peso plunged to its lowest level since GMA’s takeover.
Aileen Clemente: This recent Davao bombing produced a negative impact on the industry, just as the Zamboanga bombings adversely affected the industry last year. Such incidents prolong the recovery of our industry. We have some resilient sectors, like the increase in Korean tourists, but this is a different market handled mostly by Korean operators themselves and do not benefit Philippine travel firms.
Mari-Len: The country has to work hard to overcome the misconception abroad that the whole Philippines is dangerous. In the past, there was a successful promotion of Cebu island as a favorite destination for Japanese tourists. We should work hard to recover from these difficulties.
Jojo Clemente: Philippine tourism is not in the best of health, but it is not dying. We’re seeing some positive signs now. I would compare it to a person who is down with the flu but who could get better if he took the right medications. I hope that in two to three years, there will be a resurgence in Philippine tourism.
Alex Clemente: The industry has had obstacles. I hope we promote more the resilient and special destinations such as Boracay and Cebu. In this period of crisis, we really need the all-out assistance of the Department of Tourism and the various local governments.
Dading: And we need the support of the legislative and all other branches of government. The problem here in our country is that many politicians are not so aware of the important contributions of tourism to economic progress. They always think only of the dollar remittances of our OCWs. Look at Thailand and their booming tourism industry, do you still hear of Thai domestic helpers overseas? The Thais have 11 million tourists per year, compared to our measly 1.9 million tourists – 40 percent of whom are balikbayans pa. That’s the true state of Philippine tourism. A lot of people in the private sector want to help revive Philippine tourism. They are eager to help but there’s no strategic planning by government for the long-term. Philippine tourism needs long-term strategic planning, not just short-term marketing gimmicks. The government and the private sector should work together in trying to revive Philippine tourism from the ashes.
Alex: I agree. We are being bypassed by moneyed tourists because we have not fully addressed the concerns of the industry.
Jojo: It is a matter of the government realizing the immense potentials of tourism. Tourism today is already the No. 3 biggest source of revenue for our country, yet it has very low priority in the national budget.
Dading: I strongly believe there are three major concerns: No. 1 is the peace and order situation, No. 2 is the need to build better infrastructure, and No. 3 is the national aviation policy, because I believe we should pursue an open-skies policy. I think the country is already in default on this issue vis-à-vis the US due to our protectionist policy.
Aileen: If we do not have open skies in our aviation policy, how can we make the Philippines a transportation hub of the region for tourism and trade? Velocity of travel between Singapore and Malaysia is amazing, they have twinning arrangements for joint tourism promotions. Recently in the ITB Berlin tourism trade show, which is the world’s largest trade show on travel and tourism, I saw the successful partnership of China and Thailand for twinning. They are working together, so that everytime a tourist goes to China, he needs to add only a little to continue on to Bangkok. We have to rethink and reform our aviation policy.
Jojo: Although I agree that there’s room for more airline seats, I think that should be predicated on the implementation of good tourism promotions campaign and better infrastructure. Even if you have so many airline seats, if there are no tourists coming, then all these would be wasted seats. Before we lobby for more airline seats, we should first improve infrastructure and promotions.
Dading: Pati foreign investments will be adversely affected if we do not have open skies.
I think Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir said his country hopes to welcome 23 million tourists this year or a very high target number...
Dading: They can achieve their goal because their government has been focusing on those three major concerns.
Jojo: Tourism is very dependent on peace and order, which has been our perennial problem. For years, our country has not been able to shed its negative image. It is an uphill climb for Philippine tourism. We just have to bring the tourists here and they will come back, in fact, there are many tourists who don’t want to leave our beautiful country once they get here. As Secretary Richard Gordon stated, there is now a paradigm shift in tourism worldwide due to the changing nature of the business and the reality of terrorism. Terrorist incidents are going to happen, we don’t know when or where, and we should accept this as a fact of life. People should accept the fact that there are no absolutely safe places in the world, that they should go on with their lives. After the Davao bombing, the news media abroad had reports that carried the dateline in Manila, even if Davao is 700 miles away!
Dading: Rajah Group has continued to do well because of its outbound business, which is compensating for the reduction in the inbound business. We at Rajah continue to offer the best products and services to our fast-growing outbound clientele. For example, Rajah has the distinction of being the Philippine general sales agent of the world-famous Insight Europe for 15 years, the longest such record in Asia.
Mercedes Cruz: Rajah is strong in the outbound market, especially for the leisure and general market.
Aileen: We are not just diversifying our number of foreign destinations, but also our different markets such as the leisure and corporate incentive groups. We are also strong in new products like regional cruises. A popular new product for Filipino travelers is the affordable yet exciting Star Cruises.
With the Clemente children taking over management of the Rajah Group, what changes are expected?
Aileen: We’re almost done with the process of computerization. But despite modern advances, we at Rajah will still maintain our good personalized service. Computerization will enhance our efficiency, but automation will not replace excellent personal service.
Alex: We are strengthening our San Francisco operations, where there’s a big concentration of Filipinos. Before, our main business was servicing Filipinos going to Manila, but I am now starting to transform our business in San Francisco into a full-service travel agency servicing all clients. We will diversify our products. We now have American staff and we handle travel from California to Europe, South America and Asia, not just to the Philippines.
How does traveling to the Philippines and to South America compare for your American clients?
Alex: We’re not really convenient, especially in terms of price. For example, American travelers can go to Mexico for six nights for US$420, and it used to be that six nights to Manila would cost twice as much. In our San Francisco office, Rajah is trying to pioneer affordable travel packages to the Philippines. We’re also using Manila as a hub for their tours to China, Singapore and other popular Asian destinations.
What suggestions would you give our leaders?
Dading: To have an honest-to-goodness collective effort by the PNP, AFP and the government to improve the country’s safety and security. Look at Indonesia after the Bali bombing – tourism has already recovered because the government spent substantial amounts of money for promotions, especially in the Japanese market.
Aileen: I agree, look at the Singapore package to Bali island, it’s only US$200 with accommodations and airfare. I hope our national flag carrier Philippine Airlines can help a lot. In Bangkok, their national airlines help.
Alice: We should be competitive here in the Philippines. A Swiss guest said recently that a five-star Makati hotel is so expensive compared to the Plaza Athenee in Bangkok which charged them only 1,200 bahts, but here he was charged US$75++ and that’s the corporate rate. The Philippines should be more competitive.
Dading: Another thing pa, I hope our resorts will be more supportive naman. Look, we have been heavily promoting Cebu in Japan, but a resort such as Shangri-La Mactan has always been limiting the available deluxe rooms that we can sell. I hope you will publish this, because we at Rajah ask for five rooms daily for our Japanese guests, but they give us only two rooms daily. Sinasakal nila kami. We at Rajah maintain a Japanese office for US$30,000 per month, how can we be profitable if they do not support us? Tour operators like Rajah are now shifting to other destinations outside of Cebu. I hope there will be more cooperation and teamwork.
Jojo: We should do more talaga. Look at tiny Singapore, everything there is man-made, but they had nine million tourists last year. How come we have only 1.9 million, many of whom are balikbayans? Mas maliit pa ang Singapore sa Cebu island natin. Look at Malaysia, their promo line is "Truly Asia." Why can’t the government promote the Philippines as the place where "East meets West"? We are not just a former Spanish or American colony, we should highlight our Oriental cultural heritage too. On prices being more expensive here, perhaps it’s the other Asian countries lowering their costs and prices.
Dading: We welcome the many sincere efforts of Secretary Dick Gordon, baka naman sabihin niya we do not appreciate his work. With all the developments being undertaken by Gordon, there is now a clamor for government to declare more tourism estates like Looc in Batangas, the Hundred Islands in Pangasinan, the Ilocos region, Laguna, and even Bicol.
On the Intramuros project, tapusin niya and to open his proposed lights and sound show to the public as soon as possible. Up to now, hindi pa niya alam kung sino ang mag-ooperate niyan.
Jojo: The Intramuros project of Secretary Gordon is very good. For years we’ve been lobbying for government to restore Intramuros as a major cultural and tourist spot for Metro Manila. I am very happy Gordon is highlighting our culture and history through Intramuros. It’s about time.
What is your family’s hometown, and can it become a tourist destination?
Dading: Mangatarem town in Pangasinan. That’s the hometown of Fernando Poe, Jr.
Aileen: That’s also the hometown of the yaya of Sharon Suneta, si Yaya Luring (laughs).
Jojo: (Laughs) We have hot springs there that can be a tourist spot. It’s called Manluluwag Hotsprings.
Jojo: I appreciate Secretary Gordon’s "More than the usual" television commercials on CNN and other foreign media. I think it’s one of the best advertising materials we’ve ever come out with, but the problem is we don’t see it often enough. I think it appears four times lang a day on CNN, sometimes at strange hours pa, which is a shame because it’s a great commercial. The government should give Gordon more budget!
Mari-Len: (Laughs) Ako, favorite ko is Venice, because I’m a romantic, it’s the whole ambience of Venice that I like. Dream place not yet visited? Egypt.
Aileen: My favorite is Cancun in Mexico. Actually my reason goes beyond the place. It’s the history of how the place was developed from a bare island without destroying the historical value. That small island is included pa in the world’s famous cruises.
Dading: That’s what you should tell government in your column. Build a nice port terminal, not the existing mabaho that we have, or else how can the Philippines and Manila be included in the cruise market? Your question is interesting, naisip ko tuloy na I have not yet been to Cancun.
Alex: Let’s go there Ma, sakay tayo ng Love Boat cruise this summer.
Dading: Another thing we do not have in the Philippines – a good cultural show. In China they have a lot of great ones. Here, we don’t give value to our cultural heritage. But in fairness, during the time of Secretary Mina Gabor, Vigan and Banawe Rice Terraces were declared cultural landmarks internationally due to her efforts.
Aileen: The place I dream of visiting is Greece.
Alex: My favorite place is San Francisco. My dream place that I hope to tour is Moscow, Russia, home to great writers like Tolstoy and Dostoevski. I inherited my love of reading from our parents.
Aileen: In other words, mga nerds kami (laughs).
Alice: My favorite is beautiful and clean Salzburg in Europe, and London. Dream place? A safari tour of Africa, of Nairobi, the famous Masai Mara reserve.
Dading: My dream destination is Africa. My favorite destinations are all the places which my late husband and I visited: Lourdes, Rome, Paris and of course, New York. I consider San Francisco my second home.
Jojo: My favorite is Paris and oddly enough, any city in Japan, because of their culture. My dream tour? I want to visit the exotic yet progressive country of China. I would like to climb the world-famous Great Wall. I studied Asian history, it’s fascinating. When Europeans were still wearing animal skins and learning how to forge iron, Asians were already civilized, the Chinese people had calligraphy, wore silk and had high culture. I would also like to visit Russia for its history. Since I’m in charge of inbound business in Rajah, I want to add that my dream tourists which I hope to bring to the Philippines are Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg so they can make a movie with our country as setting. That’s my dream for Philippine tourism.
BrandSpace Articles
<
>
